Destructive Palm virus discovered

Time for PDA users to run for cover

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Owners of PalmOS-based devices beware: researchers at an antivirus software company have discovered a new virus carrying a destructive load that can infect PalmOS applications and replicate itself.

The destructive nature of the PalmOS/Phage virus distinguishes it from the recent "Liberty Crack" Trojan horse program that also was designed for the Palm platform, antivirus software vendor Network Associates said in a statement this morning.

However, as the virus has not yet been found outside controlled environments, the researchers at the company's McAfee Avert unit have given it a low risk assessment, the statement said.

When executed, the virus fills the screen of a PalmOS-based device with a dark grey box and terminates the application that is running and then replicates itself to other applications, according to the statement.